Today, Rep. Chris Stewart (R-UT) wrote an op-ed in Newsweek on the fundamental shift in America’s political factions: Democrats now represent the interests of big corporations, and Republicans are the proud defenders of the American worker.
“As the Democrat Party applauds corporate America for its woke left turn, it’s likely that the two will only become more and more intertwined. Big business is no longer the defender of a free economy—its interest is in making an ally of the party currently in power. This solidified a shift that has been in the making for quite some time: Democrats reside on Wall Street; Republicans have made their way to Main Street.” Rep. Stewart writes.
The full op-ed is available here and below.
There is No Virtue in Woke CEOs’ Signaling
By Rep. Chris Stewart
Earlier this month, in an alarming development, dozens of CEOs gathered for a strategy session to discuss how they might use their power to influence voting legislation. They’re dressing it as a noble effort to “shore up American democracy.” In reality, they’re launching an active campaign, based on deception and misinformation, to help Democrats win more elections.
The implicit embrace of Democratic political dominance should send shivers down the spines of America’s small businesses. As corporate giants unite to help Democrats enforce their undeniably radical agenda, small businesses and American workers have the most to lose.
Large companies with billions in reserves and operations in secure markets are aligning themselves with positions hostile to the nation’s workforce and its small business base. Corporations have as much right to a voice in the public square as any other entity, but their sheer dominance threatens to undermine America’s real economic engine—small businesses and the workers they employ.
Working together with academia, big tech, the nonprofit sector and the media, elite CEOs join a conglomeration of Democrat-aligned interests to give government a drastically enlarged role in American life.
Fortunately, American workers and small businesses still hold leverage of their own. Small businesses account for 99.7 percent of all employers, are responsible for about two-thirds of net new job creation and generate nearly half of all economic activity in this country.
They may be seen as the “little guys” compared to their Fortune 100 brethren, but they are the real lifeblood of the American economy. In fact, a 2018 study found that approximately 67 cents for every dollar spent at a small business stay in the local community, something that is certainly not true of big business. This cycle stimulates the economy and promotes the American worker. And this is what the Republican Party is fighting to protect.
Corporations have abandoned the American worker—and their own shareholders—with the endorsement of massive tax hikes and blatant election misinformation. There is no virtue in CEOs’ signaling. They aren’t gaining credit with the woke movement for when it inevitably comes for them. They’re pandering to the anti-business party.
For decades, Republicans were known as the white-collar party of big business. Those times and policies are firmly in the past. By virtue of taking on overreaching governors and bureaucrats, overly restrictive lockdowns, unsustainable energy policies and destructive tax regimes, we have become the proud defenders of the American worker.
The recent meeting of CEOs and Democratic operatives demonstrates their disregard for the “little guys” who are struggling while corporations continue to receive bailouts under the guise of “COVID relief” and “infrastructure.” The meeting may have been billed as non-partisan, but a single, dangerous agenda was clearly present: when voters don’t see things its way, big business will intervene.
As the Democrat Party applauds corporate America for its woke left turn, it’s likely that the two will only become more and more intertwined. Big business is no longer the defender of a free economy—its interest is in making an ally of the party currently in power. This solidified a shift that has been in the making for quite some time: Democrats reside on Wall Street; Republicans have made their way to Main Street. Democrats are for rich CEOs; Republicans are for the American worker.
